The purposes of the exam are multifold. First, it will engage you in the process of writing. Second, it will involve you in the construction of an in-class essay, an important element of many courses. Third, it will allow you to evaluate my method of teaching, helping me improve my pedagogy for future students. Finally, it will help you achieve a sense of closure.
Rationale
A trend among psychologists is to help their clients achieve a sense of closure after they have experienced a traumatic event. That sense of closure is healthy, for it allows the clients to proceed with living. The first year in an academic community is a traumatic period in many young adults' lives, especially when one considers the amount and kind of reading, thinking and communication colleges and universities require their students to accomplish. [In 2008, the American College Health Association asked 23,863 students if they ever had felt overwhelmed (87.4%), mentally exhausted (81.9%), sad (63.7%), lonely (59.7%), anxious (49.1%), hopeless (47%), angry (38.6%), depressed (30.6%), or suicidal (6.4%).]1 You need to reach a similar sense of closure to encourage you to continue with you pursuit of knowledge.
Some time ago I too was a freshman, enrolled in a large public institution. It was an exhaustive experience, an experience seemingly separate from daily life beyond the college's grounds. Although I am now on the other side of the desk, I empathize with you, and I hope my pedagogic methodology reflected such. I designed the course to be practical, in the sense that it will enhance--I hope--your performances in your academic and professional careers and in your private life. Although numerous contemporary practitioners and theorists have influenced my teaching practices, Patricia Bizzell best summarizes my goal for the exam when she states, "Tests should allow students 'to demonstrate their writing ability in work aimed at various purposes' and should encourage the development of students' self-critical abilities."2
This essay is, of course, a test, an examination of me and you. I consider my classrooms as areas of continual inquiry and adjustment. Rather than faulting only you for your possible inability to comprehend something such as the process of writing or Toulmin's scheme for argumentation, I think it is important that you and I engage in a conversation, albeit a silent one, about the efficacy and usefulness of particular exercises, assignments, discussions, et cetera. According to George Hillocks, "the assumptions [teachers] make and the theories [teachers] hold have a powerful effect on what and how we teach."3 Our conversation will lead to reflection and improvement.
Content
As you contemplate my method of teaching, I want you to consider the following objectives I state in "Overview of Course": (1) to help you develop a clear, concise, functional style of writing; (2) to involve you in the process of writing; (3) to engage you in rhetoric, the art of persuasion; (4) to involve you in argumentation; (5) to give you experience in collaboration; (6) to make you an effective critic and editor of your own writing and the writing of others; (7) to familiarize you with the various literary techniques writers employ; (8) to introduce you to different forms of literature; (9) to engage you in creative writing; (10) to help you learn to read literature critically, using different methods; (11) and to help you learn to write about literature, using different critical methods.
You must address the following issues in your essay. (1) Which objectives did you accomplish, and which objectives did you not accomplish? (2) Which elements--exercises, assignments, discussions, et cetera--helped and/or hindered your ability to achieve the aforementioned objectives of the course? (3) Do you have any specific suggestions on how I may improve my pedagogy? (4) Appraise your strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and establish new long-range goals for yourself. (5) What grade do you think you deserve for the quality of work you did?
Particulars
You must give me a freewrite, a rough draft, and a final draft. The rough draft may be in the form of an outline. You may organize you essay in any way you wish. You must use Toulmin's scheme for argumentation. In other words, you must provide reasons for every claim you make, and you must explain the logical connections between the reasons and claims--that is, provide backing. I will not consider infractions of rules--punctuation, grammar, mechanics--in my evaluation of your essay, unless your work is incomprehensible. Rather, my interest will be in the cohesion and correlation of your thoughts.
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1American College Health Association, "Reference Group Executive Summary, Fall 2008," American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA), 17 Dec. 2009
2Patricia Bizzell
, "An Overview of Research on the Composing Process," The Teaching of Writing: 85th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Vol. II, Eds. Anthony Petrosky and David Bartholomae (New York: National Society for the Studyof Education, 1986) 124.
3George Hillocks Jr.
, Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice (New York: Teachers College P, 1995) 6.
